’Tis the season for stuffing
With stout run stoppers, it’s all gravy for rest of Bears defense
defense, coordinator Vic Fangio, isn’t as easily impressed just past the halfway point of the season. The Bears are on pace to allow only 1,344 rushing yards, not far off the club record for a 16-game season of 1,313 set by the 2001 NFC Central champions.
“Obviously, the amount of takeaways we have had has been great and our run defense has been good,” Fangio said. “But we did have those two weeks there where we lost that the run defense wasn’t as good.”
The old adage is you have to earn the right to rush the passer, and the Bears have done that. They’re putting opponents in passing situations by winning on first down (4.46 yards allowed per play, second in the NFL) and then building leads.
It starts up front, and while Mack has proved disruptive against the run and skilled at setting the edge, the credit goes first to nose tackle Eddie Goldman and defensive end Akiem Hicks. They’re playing at a high level and allowing linebackers Danny Trevathan and Roquan Smith to flow behind them and make plays.
“(Goldman) is an unsung hero,” Hicks said. “He’s eating up blocks in the middle for both ends, for both linebackers. Eddie has been doing that for a number of years. I know that he’s battled some adversity as far as playing throughout the season, but he’s strong — man, he’s strong — and he has a will to be there for us. I know he doesn’t get a lot of attention, but he’s a great player.”
Smith’s range from sideline to sideline fits precisely with what the Bears want to do, and the rookie has shown improvement, totaling a team-high 22 tackles (19 solo) in the last two games. Callahan is the lightest defensive player on the roster at 188 pounds but ranks fourth with 32 solo tackles — 12 more than he had last season.
Cornerback Kyle Fuller has always been stout in run support, and the Bears credit Amukamara with improving versus the run so they don’t have the kind of cover corner who gets out of a game with a clean uniform, unwilling to tackle.
“Prince was that guy,” Fangio said. “We have shamed him into tackling better.”
“Vic would always poke fun at me,” Amukamara admitted. “I am not flying in now. Kyle is super aggressive. Me, I am just trying to get you down and make the play.”
Certainly it helps that the Bears are in their fourth year in Fangio’s scheme with little turnover from last season beyond the addition of Mack and Smith. Fangio has done a good job of defining roles and putting players where their strengths are accentuated and weaknesses minimized. While players were slow to understand some of the concepts in Years 1 and 2, they’re playing fast and downhill now.
A lot of times the defense will align with split safeties, but one — Eddie Jackson or Adrian Amos — will roll down and the Bears will play one robber or Cover Three cover-3 and have an extra defender player in the box to defend the run. With two linebackers that who can run, the personnel really matches what Fangio wants to run, and being able to spend the majority of the snaps in sub packages helps the pass defense.
“It doesn’t matter,” Trevathan said. “Whatever the offense is trying to do, Vic could call anything and in our mind we are going to win. We are going to dial up our play, we are going to let you see it and you are going to have to try to beat us.”
So far, the Bears have been winning with their nickel defense against the run, and that’s as impressive as anything they’ve done in terms of rushing the passer or creating their pass rush and takeaways.